In a New York State of Mind

Those of you who have older teenagers know how difficult it can be to spend time together as a family. Lately, I'd been feeling as though we had all been going in different directions and it was time to find a way to reconnect. The solution: a quick four day trip to one of my favourite cities in the world, New York City!  

We drove from Ottawa to Poughkeepsie, in New York state, and then boarded a commuter train all the way in to Grand Central Station. It was a comfortable and interesting 1 hour and 45 minute ride along the Hudson River. I highly recommend this manner of travel...much more civilized than driving into the city yourself. 

We arrived in the late afternoon with plans to settle in and then go to the pizza place which I had found earlier on Trip Advisor. 

We arrived at our hotel in Murray Hill and went up to our room, opened the door and found this:

We joked that rock stars had been there before us and had trashed the room. No, it was simply that the room was scheduled for a complete cleaning and the front desk had not been informed. It all worked out because we were then re-assigned to a gigantic suite up on the 36th floor. The views from the two large windows were simply stunning and we spent a fair bit of time looking out those windows at the magnificent city all around us.

View out to the East River.

After all the excitement we were all very hungry and headed out to find our restaurant. We walked for a long, long, long time as apparently I had underestimated the number of blocks to San Matteo Pizzeria. Luckily when we finally got there, there was one table for four available. Very lucky because as soon as we sat down people started coming in looking for a place to sit and they were turned away. I'm so sorry that I forgot to take pictures of the place. Everyone around us spoke Italian and the owners seemed to know all the patrons. There was soccer memorabilia hanging on the walls and the tv was turned to the soccer channel, of course. We felt like we were back in Italy! And the pizza, ah the pizza, was absolutely delizioso. We all had different pizzas and no one was disappointed.

The next morning we headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We visit this museum every time we're in New York. In fact, Amélie always says that she wishes she could live inside the museum! The collections are stunning and there is always a cool new exhibit. This time it was Matisse.  Too bad we weren't allowed to take pictures. 

We also saw a few new things this time such as the Highline. Have you heard of this? The High Line is a public park built on a freight rail line above the streets of Manhattan. 

Walking down the Highline

Located on Manhattan's West Side, it runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues. Even in February it was an interesting walk but I'd love to go back and explore in the spring and summer.

That same day we also visited the Chelsea Market. This is an enclosed urban food court and shopping mall. An interesting fact about this place is that Chelsea Market was built in the former National Biscuit Company factory complex where the Oreo cookie was invented and produced. It was a cool place to visit for lunch but the only problem was that we weren't the only tourists who had decided to visit at lunchtime. The place was packed!

Walking through Chelsea Market...desperately looking for a place to sit and eat.

On our last day we did a bit of shopping, walked some more, took the subway and just soaked in all the special New York City energy. But the best part of the trip was spending time with my (almost) grown-up kids and reconnecting with them. Mission accomplished.

Doors of Tuscany

I'm not quite sure why I like old doors so much, but I always end up taking lots of pictures of them when I'm on vacation. As I mentioned in my previous post, I'll be adding on to our memory wall in the dining room with some of our photos of interesting doors in Tuscany. Here are the top contenders.  

My favourite is the dark green door with the yellow wall. That shade of Tuscan yellow is pretty much perfect. Does anyone else out there take pictures of doors when on vacation or is that just a weird thing that I do?

Venice

I was unprepared for the effect that Venice had on me. From my very first glimpse of the city I became enchanted with it. Sure, like everyone else I had seen countless photos of Venice, but there's something about being there that is completely overwhelming. I tried to understand why Venice had such an effect on me and I think it's a combination of the fact that there is water everywhere you look, the quality of the light is diffused and kind of dreamy and also, that there is simply no other city on the planet like this one.  

The Grand Canal

Everywhere you look, there is beauty...

...even the hanging laundry is beautiful. And, I loved seeing it as it was a reminder that there are still Venetians who live here.

Walking around in the very narrow streets of Venice is an adventure in itself. You simply have to expect to get lost several times, it's inevitable. Not too scary during the day but at night, that's another story. Yup, we got lost around midnight and could not find our way home, until we found someone who pointed us in the right direction. We had been going around in circles for nearly an hour. 

Looking through the windows of the Bridge of Sighs in the Doge's Palace. This would have been the prisoner's last view  of Venice before they were taken to be executed. Apparently, Casanova spent some time in the prisons of the Palace, but he managed to escape.

On our way to the island of Murano to see the glass-makers. It was fun to experience the canals of Venice in a boat. 

Many people asked me if I went on a gondola ride, and technically the answer is yes, as we hopped into a traghetto, which is the gondola used by Venetians to cross the Grand Canal.  We had fully intended on going for a ride in a gondola but when we got there we changed our minds. Mostly, it was a combination of the steep price (85 euros for 50 min) and the fact that the gondoliers seem completely uninterested in the entire exercise. We saw more than one gondolier talking away on their cell phone while they had a boatful of disappointed-looking  people.

 Frittura mista de pesce or mixed fried fish is a speciality in Venice. We had this, as well as fantastic pizza and prosecco on our last night in Italy. 

As you can tell, I fell under Venice's spell, unfortunately, many other people wanted to experience Venice at the same time as us. We were lucky enough to stay at a friend's apartment and I asked her how she felt about the throngs of tourists. She said that Venetians have mixed feelings about the tourists: on the one hand they need us to survive, as Venice's economy is intrinsically linked to tourism but on the other hand, sometimes, as she said: "you just want to get to where you're going without fighting your way through hordes of people." Oh well, I get what she's saying but I still intend to return to Venice someday.

Falling for Florence

I had a bit of a love affair with Florence. The stunning city is known for its art, in particular, the famous statue of David from Michelangelo. It is also a city for lovers of beauty. I took hundreds of photos during our two days in Florence because there was something stunning  everywhere I looked. Sigh, I miss Florence already!

A view of the Arno river and one of Florence's romantic bridges.

I'll never forget my first sight of the city, at night, in the rain.

 Sweets in the window of Scudieri. I did not try any of it but it was lovely to look at.

A glimpse of the Duomo. 

Michelangelo's famous David. I admit it, we only saw the reproduction as I had failed to plan ahead and reserve our time to see the original inside the Accademia. We just weren't up to waiting upwards of three hours in line to see it. Oh well, next time!


Our Italian adventure ends in Venice, which I will have you tour in my next post. See you soon!